The present invention is directed to a shock absorber attachable to containers for the transportation and/or storing of radioactive material consisting of several radially and/or axially disposed chambers which are filled with damping material.
Transportation and/or storage containers must securely enclose the radioactivity of the material put in, even after strain due to an accident, for example, after the fall of a container. Correspondingly, the containers are designed and are equipped at least during the handling and transportation phase additionally with shock absorbers. In case of any fall or impact, the shock absorbers are to absorb as much deformation energy as possible so that in the event of impact the strain to the container and to its radioactive contents remains slight.
Such shock absorbers for transport containers are known (German Pat. No. 2,650,417, German AS 2,830,305). Mostly such known shock absorbers have a multilayered structure. The layers are often separated by metal sheets standing vertically (i.e., perpendicular to the plane of the layers) and have different deformation characteristics. There are, however, known shock absorbers with a multilayered structure in a radial direction (i.e., extending circumferentially about the ends of the container).
The disadvantage of the known shock absorbers is that, notwithstanding a very complicated construction, the cover region of the container in the accident situations frequently is still strongly loaded. Thereby the relatively sensitive sealing elements between the container cover and the container base body are extraordinarily endangered.
Therefore it was the problem of the present invention to provide a shock absorber or cushioning device for containers for the transportation and/or storage of radioactive materials consisting of several radially and axially arranged chambers which are filled with absorbing material with which the energy of deformation is led off well in an accident situation and with which the region of the cover and sealing elements of the container is either not loaded or only loaded to a trifling extent.